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Milos Raonic loses to Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon

Most shockingly, Aussie bad boy Nick Kyrgios had more aces than Raonic: 34-18.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios celebrates winning the second set during his men's singles third round match against Canada's Milos Raonic on day five of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 3, 2015. (GLYN KIRK / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Canada's Milos Raonic returns to Australia's Nick Kyrgios during their men's singles third round match on day five of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 3, 2015. (GLYN KIRK / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

The Canadian seventh seed, semifinalist here a year ago, was eliminated in the third round Friday morning, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3. And, most shockingly, got out-aced by his upstart Australian opponent in the process: 34 to 18.

Kyrgios’s first serves were faster too and baffling for Raonic, who was simply unable to read them, which meant not getting there, not returning.

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For maybe the first time in his career, Raonic now knows what it feels like to be on the opposite side of the net — facing him. Because Kyrgios, who’s never been especially known as a monstrous serve-basher — though he doesn’t possess enough of a tour history to be known as anything in particular beyond the endless court antics — turned the tables on the master of the killer-rocket.

By the fourth set, Raonic, the 24-year-old from Thornhill, was visibly wincing whilst stretching for shots, appearing in pain, suggesting that he may have suffered some kind of injury during the match.

It was the foot, actually, the right dog, on which he had surgery for a pinched nerve five weeks ago.

“I’m just dealing with a lot of things. The foot led to everything else.” Meaning, discomfort from the ankle, to hips, to back, to shoulder. “The feet are the instigators.”

The feet are the felons.

“It’s disappointing. I wanted this tournament to last longer. But it is what it is.”

Adding, of the victor: “He came up big in important moments. He stepped up when he needed to.”

With the “Fanatics” — the Australian cheering section of lad-abouts and their lasses — serenading him on (“So good! So good! So good!”) — Kyrgios recovered from the first-set loss, growing ever stronger and more confident, through a late second-set break on Raonic’s serve, then six consecutive points, including a trio of aces, on the tiebreaker which Raonic had led 2-0, and serving for match in the fourth with utter command.

When Kyrgios showed ace, the chorus would sing-song: There it is! There it is!

Only in the late going, leading two sets to one, did Kyrgios knocked off the larking and tomfoolery, as grim in expression as Raonic had been from start to finish.

“I don’t fear anyone,” the hotshot said afterwards.

A bit of payback, on Court 2 for the 20-year-old.

It was Raonic who bounced the Kyrgios out of the French Open in the quarters a year ago, after the then-teenaged Australian had shockingly sent world No. 1 Rafael Nadal packing. The Canadian also dismissed qualifier Kyrgios in this venue, Wimbledon, in four sets.

“I didn’t really want to lose to him again,” said Kyrgios. “He beat me twice last year at Grand Slams.”

The enfant terrible threw his racquet — once, it took a weird bounce on the grass and ended up caroming into the stands where a fan made a dandy catch — interacted with spectators, even claimed to take spontaneous coaching advice from one fellow in a Batman T-shirt useful because Kyrgios is without a coach at the moment, having parted company with that individual just a week before Wimbledon, admonished himself over poor shots and more than once tossed off compliments (“well played!’’) to his opponent.

Gave a bit of lip to one woman, however, not appreciating her interjection.

Raonic, who prides himself on cool and mental toughness, ignored all of it. Seemed, in fact, to draw added cool from the non-distraction, shutting out everything but the ball, at least in the first set.

But then the match started to get away from him, as Raonic fell victim to passing shots and half-volleys while Kyrgios began to figure out his opponent’s relentless forehand. Raonic had Kyrgios as 40-love in the ninth game of the second set, but the younger man fought back furiously, including the awesome angle volley that brought the game to deuce. Raonic then likewise rose to the occasions, fending off two break points in a row with his forehand, holding serve and nerve. It was a brilliant game for both players.

Kyrgios, however, broke Raonic in the 11th game, getting his racquet on many more of the Canadian’s serve, and converting the break when Raonic, unfathomably, failed to play a shot that he obviously thought was going long.

It didn’t and, leading 6-5 in that set, Kyrgios hit three aces in a row to level the match.

Kyrgios seized the opening and played some inspired tennis, demonstrating he could both thump the ball and caress it, with only 13 unforced errors on the afternoon.

He’d clearly learned a lot from those two previous losses to Raonic.

“I wasn’t struggling at all. If it was to go into a fifth, I would have still felt confident.”

It’s been an eventful tournament for the brash young man, on and off the court.

He was cautioned for bad language during his first round match after clearly using the words “dirty scum” after a heated exchange about whether a ball was in or out. He claimed afterwards that the “dirty scum” was aimed at himself. Okey-dokey.

In the second round, Kyrgios clashed the chair ump again, sneering later that the official thought he was “top dog of the court.’’

When clearly Kyrgios believes he deserves that designation.

Then, on Thursday, while training for his match with Raonic on a back court, Kyrgios scaled a high wooden periphery fence around Court 14, wherein fellow Down Unders Llyeton Hewitt and Thanasi Kokkinakis (a close buddy to Kyrgios) were engaged in a five-set doubles siege. Kyrgios, with his trademark bubblegum pink Beats by Dre headphones clamped over his ears, scaled the fence to watch the action in the burst-to-overflowing court. Until a Wimbledon steward told him to get the sod off — though probably not in those words.

Moments after the steward left, Kyrgios climbed back up.

Rule-breaker! Rule-breaker!

In any event, the swaggering Kyrgios now faces Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the quarters. The two met in the second round stage of Wimbledon last year, with the man from Canberra coming from two sets behind to win in five.

“Serving is key,” said Kyrgios. “He’s going to make a lot more returns. He’s going to obviously play solid from the ground. He’s a magician from back there.”

Yet Kyrgios, without a single tour title, has got some majors magic working too.

“I think I just turn it on for Grand Slams. I don’t really know what to say.”

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